About us
COLLAPSE London (2024). Photo: Lotus Choffel
Butoh Mutations is an approach to movement and dance that seeks to deepen the contemporary resonance of postwar Japanese Butoh. A 'mutation', an idea inspired by the mystical philosopher Jean Gebser, is a non-linear mode of development; it means to open unknown facets on an existing form. We mutate Butoh by exploring embodied research practices through the spiritual principle of nonduality, that guides numerous wisdom traditions (Sufi, Dao, Buddhist). Our motivation is to attune our bodies' psychic and somatic resilience, towards imaginal world-building, in times of planetary collapse.
Our community is involved in diverse ways, through art practice, dance research, sociological innovation, creative experimentation, and hacking, crafting and maker movements.
Butoh Mutations is based at Colet House, London, the Centre for Non-Duality. This is a community-led space with a long tradition of studying nonduality. It was established to study P.D. Ouspensky's Fourth Way, and later incorporated Advaita Vedanta and the Sufi whirling dervish ceremony into the teachings.
Dr Dominique Savitri Bonarjee
Dominique is an artist, dancer, and educator exploring the expanded field of dance through a deep engagement with Butoh. Her first monograph, Butoh, as Heard by a Dancer (Routledge Advances in Performance and Theatre Studies, 2024), recounts her encounters with seminal Butoh artists during five years of immersive research in Japan. The book delves into Butoh's origins and legacy, unraveling its corporeal language and contemporary resonance.
Her doctoral art project, Space of the Nameless (2024), awarded by Goldsmiths University, investigates 'the detached eye,' a witnessing technique inherited from her Butoh teachers. Expanding Butoh’s corporeal approach, she develops a visceral aesthetic rooted in "mutations"—a process of becoming and unbecoming through cycles of transformation that she explores through diverse movement traditions. Dominique's transdisciplianry practice draws on Butoh founder Tatsumi Hijikata’s concept of Butoh-ness (butoh-sei) as a quality of relationality to the materiality of the body.
Selected exhibitions and performances include: COLLAPSE (and in-conversation with Jack Halberstam, University of Applied Arts, Vienna); Iklectik Art Lab; Nakanojo Biennale (Japan); Chicago Art Institute; Kunstfest Weimar; the Isamu Noguchi Room (Tokyo); Galerie Wedding (Berlin); Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC); and Tate Modern. Dominique collaborated with Astrida Neimanis, author of Bodies of Water, at Lofoten International Arts Festival (2019), and recently staged an immersive installation at SIML space, Goldsmiths College.
She has been mentored by electronic sound pioneer Atau Tanaka and studied raga improvisation with minimalist composer LaMonte Young and Jung Hee Choi.
Elspeth Chi Fan Chan
Graduating with a degree in Cinema & TV from Hong Kong Baptist University, Chan pursued her passion for dance in the UK, earning a Master’s degree in Dance Research with distinction. Her writings have been featured in International Association of Theatre Critics (Hong Kong), dance journal/hk and Dance News(HK). She moderates public talks including ‘Butoh and the Locality of the Body - An Initial Exploration of Butoh in Hong Kong’ in 2023.
Chan's research explores Butoh’s philosophical and therapeutic potential. She presented at the University of East London and the Global Dance Conference in April and August 2024; and as a member of ‘The Early Career Group’ hosted by Dr ‘Funmi Adewole Elliott in October 2024. Further to her first Butoh movement workshop held at Goldsmiths University and participating in Dominique Savitri Bonarjee's ‘COLLAPSE London’ dance project in May 2024, Chan continues to weave her unique pathway through research and practice.
Dr Jana Melkumova-Reynolds
Jana Melkumova-Reynolds is a cultural sociologist whose research straddles together theoretical and methodological approaches from the social sciences and from the arts and humanities. Her areas of expertise include time and temporalities, cultural production, material and visual culture, and disability studies. Her work in these areas is underpinned by feminist and queer epistemologies and methodologies. Embodied and emplaced, it is rooted in phenomenology and draws on affect theory and ANT.
Expertise Details: Cultural Work; Fashion; Time; Disability Studies; Embodiment; Affect Theory
Position title
Assistant Professor in Sociology, Department of Sociology,
London School of Economics & Political Science
Lotus Choffel
Lotus Choffel is a London-based Set, Costume, and Lighting Designer whose work bridges the worlds of Fine Art, Theatre, and Performance. With a background in Fine Art and Installation, Lotus trained at the University of the Arts London (UAL) and the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), where she developed her conceptual approach to storytelling.
Her designs are deeply influenced by Japanese minimalism and the art of trompe-l'œil, playing with perception to trick and transport audiences into unknown worlds using as little as possible. By sculpting spaces with light and creating illusions that blur the line between reality and imagination, Lotus crafts emotional and visual realms that linger long after the performance. Her work distills complex ideas into striking, symbolic visual statements that challenge and engage the viewer.
Beyond theatre, Lotus’s multidisciplinary practice extends into production design and artistic direction for film. Most recently, her touring show Zones d'Ombres was performed in two male correctional facilities in France, exemplifying her commitment to creating meaningful, immersive experiences in unexpected spaces.
Partnerships, allies, community:
